PRESENTATION ON

STRATEGIC THINKING AND

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

By Dr. John Yabs, PhDSenior Lecturer, University of Nairobi, School of Business

Area of Specialization : Strategic Management and International

BusinessAuthor of : Strategic

Management Practices; and International Business

Operations in Kenya

BOOKS AUTHORED BY DR. JOHN YABS

TOPIC OF DISCUSSION:

STRAGEIC THINKING AND

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

PART I

STRATEGIC THINKING

STRATEGIC THINKING

What is strategic thinking?- It is a mental process

that give priority to some ideas over others.

It is using selective memory to give priority to

some ideas that are relevant to the situation at

hand

Strategic Thinking is a planning process that

applies innovation, strategic planning, and

operational planning to develop business

strategies that have a greater chance for success.

DEFINING STRATEGIC THINKING

Strategic Thinking is a planning process that

applies innovation, strategic planning and

operational planning to develop business

strategies that have a greater chance for

success.

Strategic thinking came as a distinct metal

exercise of strategic planning: a process of

identifying objectives and fulfilling them.

EXPLAINING STRATEGIC THINKING

Strategic thinking is defined as a mental or thinking process applied by an individual in the context of achieving success in a game or other endeavor. As a cognitive activity, it produces thought.

When applied in an organizational strategic management process, strategic thinking involves the generation and application of unique business insights and opportunities intended to create competitive advantage for a firm or organization

EXPLAINING STRATEGIC THINKING

Strategic thinking includes finding and

developing a strategic foresight capacity for

an organization, by exploring all possible

organizational futures, and challenging

conventional thinking to foster decision making

today

CRITICAL THINKING

Critical thinking is clear, reasoned thinking

involving critique. Its details vary amongst

those who define it. According to Beyer (1995),

critical thinking means making clear, reasoned

judgments. During the process of critical

thinking, ideas should be reasoned and well

thought out/judged

CRITICAL THINKING

It is the process of actively and skillfully

conceptualizing, applying, analyzing,

synthesizing, and evaluating information to

reach an answer or conclusion

It is disciplined thinking that is clear, rational,

open-minded, and informed by evidence

It is reasonable, reflective thinking focused on

deciding what to believe or do

CRITICAL THINKING

Critical thinking means making reasoned

judgments that are logical and well thought out.

It is a way of thinking in which you don't simply

accept all arguments and conclusions you are

exposed to but rather have an attitude involving

questioning such arguments and conclusions.

It requires wanting to see what evidence is

involved to support a particular argument or

conclusion.

PART II

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

STRATEGIC PLANNING

Strega management has its roots in the first

function of management- Planning

Planning is the start of every management

function- organizing, staffing, leading, and

controlling

Strategic planning in the identification of

objectives and providing means of ataining

them

STRATEGIC PLANNING

Strategic planning is an organization's process of

defining its strategy, or direction, and making

decisions on allocating its resources to pursue

this strategy. It may also extend to control

mechanisms for guiding the implementation of

the strategy.

STRATEGIC PLANNING

Strategic Planning try to answer the following

questions:

Where are we now?

Where do we want to be?

How do we get there?

How do we measure our progress?

STRATEGIC PLANNING EXPLAINED

Strategic planning involves setting goals,

determining actions to achieve the goals, and

mobilizing resources to execute the actions.

A strategy describes how the ends (goals) will be

achieved by the means (resources).

The senior leadership of an organization is

generally tasked with determining strategy.

STRATEGIC PLANNING EXPLAINED

Strategic planning is a review and planning

process that is undertaken to make thoughtful

decisions about an organization’s future in

order to ensure its success.

It is a process of identifying goals and

objectives to be pursuit

OPERATIONAL PLANNING EXPLAINED

Operational planning refer to the short term

goals that are part of the overall strategic plan

It answers the questions:

Where are we now?

Where do we want to be?

How do we get there?

How do we measure our progress?

PART III

Strategic Planners and strategic

thinkers

THREE LEVEL OF STRATIC MANAGEMENT

EXECUTIVE LEVEL

BUSINESS LEVEL

OPERATIONAL OF FUNCTIONAL LEVEL

STRATEGIC PLANNERS AND STRATEGIC

THINKERS

Planners and Strategists: all those who hold

positions of leadership who must think, decide

and execute their decisions

Planners and Strategists should learn to own

the results of their decisions regardless of the

positive or negative nature of the outcome

STRATEGIC PLANNERS AND THINKERS IN A

UNIVERSITY

The Council members individually and collectively

The members of the senate

Members of various committees and academic boards

Members of faculties, schools and various divisions

And all leaders of any other division identified as a strategic business unit

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE

At every strategic management level, every

strategist must have requisite knowledge to be

able to comprehend the matters at hand

The interaction between the environment and

organizations can be so complex that it

requires analytical mind and a capacity to

comprehend the intricacies between then.

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT EXPLAINED

Strategic management is the continuous process

of creating, implementing and evaluating

decisions that enable an organization to achieve

its objectives.

Formulation of Strategies and their execution is

the duty of the executive level of any organization

The attainment of financial and non financial

goals, academic and non academic goals as well

as societal expectations

FORMULATION OF A STRATEGY

Environmental Scanning under the PESTEL

Factors

Internal Environmental Scanning

Answering the questions: what, when, where,

and how.

Why now and what is expected of me or us

collectively?

EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING

What is the state of affairs in the industry, in

the world, in the country Kenya?

What do we want to achieve?

How is the environment and how are the odds?

What are the experiences of others and what

model can we follow?

WORLDS ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL

SITUATIONS

According to US Population Census Estimates

2015, World population in 2015 reached 7.3

billion

Leading most populated countries: China

1,403 mln; India 1,290 mln; USA 325;

Indonesia 256; Brazil 206; Nigeria 180;

Ethiopia 90; Egypt 87; Tanzania 47; Kenya 42;

Uganda 35;

WORLD POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SITUATION

IN 2015

Political Activities that influence Educational

development in the world

Millennium development goals

Economic Activities and their influence on

culture and educational activities

New political associations and political

dispensations

HOW CAN ORGANIZATIONS REACT? GLOBAL

STRATEGIC THINKING

Globalization and interdependence of world

economies: we must participate and join the

comity of nations

To guard against hegemonic tendencies of

powerful nations and institutions like

monopolies. Understand the theory of

hegemony.

THE USA MODEL

Population 325 million in 2015

Super power and must keep ahead of the pack

Resources both national and international

World presence and a hand in every event and

activity every where

THE CHINESE MODEL

Population 1,403 million: China has opened its

economy and many FDI go tyhere.

They don’t have enough resources and thus

interest in Africa

Chinese model of development: a friend in

need is a friend in deed

THE INDIAN MODEL

Population of 1,297 million. They practice Self-

sufficiency in all sector of the economy

India uses all available resources including NRI

in diaspora

Investment in institutions to produce requisite

manpower

Many countries are borrowing a lot from India

as an economic model

THE KENYAN MODEL

Population 42 million: each county has their

owns figures for planning purposes.

New political dispensation and county

governments: each would like to have a

University.

Many universities are opening satellite

campuses as expansion strategy.

MODELS OF POOR COUNTRIES

Papua New Guinea

The Islands of Kiribati and St Brigit's and

Neville

Tonga island

Fiji islands

Galapagos islands

Haiti

PART IV

STRATEGIC THINKING AND

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AT THE

LEVEL OF THE BOARD OF

DIRECTORS IN AN INSTITUTION

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE QUALITY OF

DECISIONS

Composition of the board

Contribution by individual members

Collective thinking and quality of debate

A right decision arrived at after debate is better

than a right decision made by CEO alone

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN UNIVERSITIES

The practice of formulating strategies and

implementation

Challenges in Universities

State of affairs in Universities and the stiff

completion

The scramble for higher education and to

attract numbers

WEBOMETRIC RANGING OF UNIVERSITIES IN

2015

first 5 slots. U.Capetown, UNISA, U.Pretoria,

U.Stellenbosch, U.Witwatersrand

Leading Kenyan Universities according to the

same webometric scales: UoN, Makerere,

Daresalam, KU, and JKUAT and others

COMPETITION BETWEEN UNIVERSITIES

What Universities should do?

Challenges: Reducing government support;

demands from stakeholders; increased

autonomy and responsibilities

Demand for quality decisions

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Efforts to Increase capacities and capabilities

within universities and application of business

process reengineering

Strategic thinking and foresight in decision

making

Increased demand for quality decisions

Increased capabilities of individual members of

the board of directors

THE WAY FORWARD

The dichotomy of thinking and acting

Innovation of ideas and new ways of practicing

management

New approaches in solving routine problems

and using innovation to solve new problems

INTERNAL ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING

Is our organizational structure conducive to

new strategies?

What internal advantages and competencies

do we have?

What are the specifics of our products?

Is our corporate culture understood by all

workers?

INTER-UNIVERSITY CHALLENGES

Increased turnover of lecturers and poaching of

good ones

Luck of skills in specific in universities:

strategic thinkers and foresight managers

Hostile environment and luck of support from

Central and County Governments

USING SERVICES OF EXPERTS

Use of expert consultants with specific

knowledge required by the University

Continuous upgrading of skills and capabilities

of individual members of staff and members of

various committees;

upgrading skills of managers and board

members in the latest and best practices in

industry.

PART V

CONCLUDING REMARKS AND

RECOMMENDATIONS

FOCUS ON THE EXECUTIVE LEVEL

To improve the quality of decisions in the boards

of directors it is influenced by: the composition;

qualifications; institutional structures; the

thinking of individual members; the role of the

chairman; and the collective will of the board.

QUALITY OF CONTRIBUTIONS BY BOARD

MEMBERS

The quality of the contribution of individual

members is influenced by: qualifications;

experience; individual characteristics and

predispositions; the willingness and passion to

work.

CONDUCIVE ATMOSPHERE TO WORK

Working conditions and auxiliary services

received by members of the board

Incentives to members of the board: gifts;

tokens; appreciation; facilitation.

The question of corruption and collation under

the coalition phenomenon- kleptocracy

INTERESTS OF MEMBERS AND THE INTERESTS

OF ORGANIZATIONS

There should be efforts to merge or bring as close as possible the interests of the members of the executive board and those of the organization.

All should think collectively to formulate long term plans and execute them to attain objectives

That is the purpose of Strategic management in organizations.

THAT IS THE END